Question 1

Four month-old infants can best organize the world into distinct objects when the objects they are trying to make sense of are

Accepted Answer

Four-month-old infants can best organize the world into distinct objects when the objects are moving. Motion provides important visual cues that help infants distinguish between different objects, aiding in their cognitive development and understanding of the world around them.

Question 2

What can we conclude regarding developmental changes in speech perception?

Accepted Answer

Research has shown that as we develop and become more familiar with the sounds of our own language, we become better at discriminating sounds that are relevant in our language and less sensitive to sounds that are irrelevant. This is known as perceptual narrowing.

Question 3

The advantage of being born with the ability to categorize sounds phonetically is that it

Accepted Answer

Being born with the ability to categorize sounds phonetically biologically prepares a child to speak all human languages, as they are able to distinguish the nuances of different sounds and replicate them in their own speech. This advantage does not necessarily prevent children from making phonetic errors in speaking, ensure that people speak the same language, or guarantee ease of second language acquisition in later adulthood.

Question 4

The fact that newborns turn away from loud sounds indicates that they can

Accepted Answer

Newborns have not yet developed the ability to distinguish between phonemes (B) or perceive speech (C). Understanding size constancy (D) requires much higher levels of cognitive development. However, newborns do have some ability to localize sound, which is demonstrated by their turning away from loud noises.

Question 5

How should you react to a policy that supports the initial testing of hearing at age three years?

Accepted Answer

Early detection of hearing loss is crucial because significant hearing loss can lead to speech and language difficulties if not addressed before age three.

Question 6

According to the intuitive theorist perspective, infants

Accepted Answer

The intuitive theorist perspective posits that infants are born with some innate knowledge about the world and have the ability to reason about it in a way that is similar to adults, though perhaps more basic in form. This perspective suggests that infants are not simply passive learners but come equipped with some understanding of how the world works, which they then build upon through experience.

Question 7

When describing her son's recent surgery, Sheri says, "They connected a microphone on the outside of his head. Then they surgically ran a wire into his inner ear." This description indicates that Sheri's son had

Accepted Answer

The microphone on the outside of the head and the wire running into the inner ear indicate that Sheri's son had a cochlear implant, which is a surgically implanted device that helps people with severe hearing loss to hear sounds.

Question 8

Three-month-old infants can discriminate between phonemes. This means that they can discriminate between

Accepted Answer

Phonemes are basic speech sounds and three-month-old infants have been shown to be able to discriminate between them.

Question 9

A _____ is a basic sound used in human speech.

Accepted Answer

A phoneme is a basic sound used in human speech. A cataract is a clouding of the lens in the eye, dopamine is a neurotransmitter in the brain, and surfactant is a substance that helps reduce surface tension. None of these have to do with sounds used in speech.

Question 10

Which of the following is the best example of the infant as an intuitive theorist?

Accepted Answer

Infants showing surprise when a ball that is dropped behind a screen is later shown to be suspended in the air is the best example of the infant as an intuitive theorist. This behavior suggests that infants have expectations about how objects move and behave in the world, and they are surprised when these expectations are violated. This shows that infants have a basic understanding of the laws of physics and are able to use this understanding to make predictions about how objects should behave.

Question 11

Concerning the ability of newborns to hear, research has shown that they can discriminate

Accepted Answer

Research has shown that newborns can discriminate between frequency, loudness, duration, and direction of sounds. They have been found to turn their heads towards the source of a sound, indicating an ability to perceive direction. They have also been observed to habituate to repeated sounds, suggesting that they can discriminate between different types of sounds, including differences in frequency, loudness, and duration.

Question 12

Which is a criticism of cochlear implants?

Accepted Answer

One of the criticisms of cochlear implants is that it denies deaf children the chance to be part of the deaf community, which has its own unique culture and language (American Sign Language). Some members of the deaf community view cochlear implants as a threat to their culture and identity.

Question 13

Which statement would indicate that Tory is an intuitive theorist?

Accepted Answer

Tory's belief that infants perceive the world in a very adult-like manner is characteristic of an intuitive theorist, who assumes that infants have innate knowledge and abilities rather than having to learn everything from scratch through experience.

Question 14

Thirty-year-old Jiang has lived in China all his life and has only spoken in a common Chinese dialect. Jiang has an infant son named Woo. What linguistic advantage would Woo have over Jiang?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Thirty-year-old Jiang has lived in China all...

Question 15

Typically, newborns can

Accepted Answer

Newborns can hear better than they see initially. Their visual system is not fully developed at birth and takes some time to adjust to the outside world. However, their auditory system is well-developed and they can recognize sounds they heard in the womb.

Question 16

Four month-old infants appear to use object _____ to determine whether two side-by-side objects are separate.

Accepted Answer

Four month-old infants have not yet developed the ability to distinguish between different shades or colors (hue). They also likely do not have a concept of size. However, research has shown that infants at this age are able to perceive differences in shape and use this information to determine if two objects are separate. Therefore, the best choice is C) shape.

Question 17

Six-month-old Barbie watches as two dolls are placed behind a screen. When the screen is removed, Barbie sees either two dolls (possible) or one doll (impossible). Which of the following reactions is the infant likely to show?

Accepted Answer

This scenario describes a classic violation of expectation task, in which an infant is presented with a possible event followed by an impossible event. Research has shown that infants as young as 3-4 months of age will look longer at the impossible event, indicating that they perceive it as surprising or unexpected. Therefore, the most likely reaction for Barbie, a six-month-old infant, would be to look longer at the impossible outcome than the possible outcome, suggesting that she is sensitive to the violation of her expectations.

Question 18

The fact that two-month-olds can detect the difference between the sound "pa" and the sound "ba" indicates that they

Accepted Answer

The ability to differentiate between phonemes (distinct units of sound) is a fundamental skill in language acquisition, and the fact that two-month-olds can do so suggests that they are capable of this type of perceptual differentiation. Cross-modal perception refers to the ability to integrate information from different sensory modalities, such as vision and hearing, and is not directly related to phoneme perception. Semantic awareness involves understanding the meaning of words and is not typically developed until later in infancy. Visual accommodation refers to the ability of the eye to adjust focus and is not related to phoneme perception.

Question 19

Cochlear implants work by providing direct stimulation to the

Accepted Answer

Cochlear implants work by bypassing the damaged hair cells in the cochlea and stimulating the auditory nerve directly with electrical signals.

Question 20

While sitting in her playpen, four-month-old Kiko watches her cat knock a lamp off a dresser. As the lamp begins to fall, Kiko seems to know that the lamp will drop straight to the floor. This knowledge appears to indicate that Kiko instinctively understands

Accepted Answer

Kiko's ability to understand that the lamp will fall straight to the floor indicates her understanding of basic laws of physics, specifically Newtonian laws of object motion. It is unlikely that she has yet developed the cognitive capacity for Piagetian object permanence or the understanding of Skinnerian reinforcement. Freudian ego formation is a theoretical concept unrelated to this situation.

Quiz 6: Sensation, Perception, and Attention